Chisinau, MOLDOVA - After meetings today in Moldova with top government officials and parliamentarians, U.S. Senator Bob Corker, R-Tenn., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Russia’s interference in Ukraine and Moldova is “a wake-up call,” calling on the U.S. to strengthen relations with both countries in order to help stabilize the region.

“What’s happening in Ukraine and Moldova is a wake-up call. Americans are beginning to understand we are paying the price for our disengagement from the region following the collapse of the Soviet Union,” said Senator Corker. “One of President Putin’s worst nightmares is to have a country like Moldova in his neighborhood that is reducing corruption, improving its democracy and forging closer ties with the West. Instead of a short-term response, the U.S. must have a long-term strategy to stabilize the region by strengthening relations with countries like Moldova and Ukraine.”

Senator Corker is on a four-day trip to Moldova and Ukraine to assess firsthand the situation on the ground since Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and continued destabilizing involvement in eastern Ukraine and throughout the region.